


Ricercar Redux

by Silius1



Category: Stella Glow
Genre: Gen, Retelling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2020-01-12 02:05:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18436793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silius1/pseuds/Silius1
Summary: It had seemed like such an easy mission: Defeating the entity known as God but things are never as easy as they would believe. Despite all efforts, the battle ended in failure and caused the Witch bound to the obscure Thunder Qualia: Ester to become contaminated, and with a lack of dedicated support for all parties, it was decided that the Conductor: Elcrest would be placed under the care of the Water Witch while the Thunder Witch would be placed in suspended animation while the contagion disperses with aid from the Time Witch: Hilda. Because of said lack of support, the recovery process took one thousand years before Ester was able to attain freedom from her shackles.





	1. Onryō

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Ricercar](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14661030) by [Silius1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silius1/pseuds/Silius1). 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, let me say that I'm sorry this took me so long to do, but like I said in Ark Crusade Redux, I had no reliable means to write content for my stories like this for a few months. But whereas ACR had that issue, I've spent the last couple of months rebuilding this story from the ground up since I didn't build it with Ester as a Witch in mind so issues were emerging since I had abruptly changed key story details that made little to no sense, like the interactions with Hilda and Dante. In addition to changing this, I'm focusing more on Ester's history in the past to show who she is as a person before having her debut within the story proper. In addition to me losing the document that had all of my plans for the original Ricercar, I was just plain unhappy with the way I wrote the original so I decided to scrap the original vision and salvage what I could with the clear intention of Ester being the Lightning Witch from the get-go.
> 
> Next, I’m going to admit flat out that I’m going to be playing around with Elcrest’s age a little bit in this story because of certain inconsistencies according to information I’ve found in the Stella Glow wiki. According to that source, the Conductor is portrayed to be 17 years old biologically and 1017 chronologically but what is baffling is that it’s not making sense when you consider that he was in Mithra for three years alongside Lisette and Rosa. I’ve spent days, if not weeks, trying to come up with anything that seems plausible to fit this idea but came up with nothing that makes sense without going into some major twisting of plot elements. I’m changing things up to where the Conductor is originally twenty five years old but had undergone a degree of age regression to the physical age of fourteen but is unaware of how old he truly was because of Francisca’s healing to help explain some confusing elements in addition to lore I am creating here in this fanfic.
> 
> At the end of the day, it was either do an age-lift for Elcrest or introduce some major questionable decisions regarding Qualias and I’m going to be frank. An age-lift is by far the lesser of two evils to me, especially since I like the idea of Elcrest needing to have spent time learning what it means to be a Conductor alongside him fighting the Angels with Regnant’s knights and tuning the other Witches.
> 
> And yes, the matter about the Angels is possible within the pre-existing lore because of Dante’s involvement with the Harbingers.

 ‘- _It’s funny how things goes sometimes. One day, you could be living a normal run of the mill day, the next, your entire life irreversibly changes. As I’ve come to learn during the last twelve years of my life, whether that change is benign or malevolent depends on the change in question, the environment you reside in, and ultimately, the reaction to said change. Was my change beneficial? Well, not until recently. Somewhat. They cannot understand my pain nor will I allow them to since I think of those fools as untrustworthy, yet those damn witches are still adamant on trying to befriend me. I won’t let them, they are only trying to get me to lower my guard so they can stab me in the back when I am at my weakest. I won’t give them that opportunity after my so called friends and family tried the very same thing. Thastel won’t either. The damage has already been cemented in stone after all. This diary will be my only confidant. It won’t-_ ’ Ester stopped this internal monologue as she heard movement in the distance through the wall in her room, followed by familiar voices, quickly storing the diary out of sight and rushed to the door, desiring to hear what they are saying.

“Elc, you know I don’t understand the specifics of being the Conductor, but why have you not done any sort of tuning to the Lightning Witch: Ester? She’s been here six months now.”

“Xeno, for the last time, no. I don’t believe it will be necessary. The qualias Francisca, Millicent, Kaede, Ukuna, and Hilda possess made them servants of god prior to me purifying them. Ester has seemingly freed herself so I fail to see why I should invest effort in a fruitless endeavour. In fact, you could consider that the Thunder Qualia is incapable of being controlled by God. Now, if we were talking about the prior Thunder Witch, I might agree with you since she was a heartless murderer known to the entire kingdom. I’m almost glad someone was able to actually kill her, but it does worry me at the same time. I dread the idea of hunters going after Hilda and the others.”

“Yes, I agree with your thoughts about the previous owner of the Thunder Qualia. That woman was horrifyingly strong; she had the means to kill Witches with shockingly little effort. We lost our first two Witches in the twin sisters: Orana of the Void and Apollonia of the Radiant. They were the first Witches you freed and they died by Tryphena’s hand a few weeks later. But listen to me my friend, I urge you to look beyond your own preconceptions on this matter. Surely you remember that she hasn’t revealed anything about her history since we found her and there are times where she seemingly retracted whatever she was going to say. Don’t you find this strange?”

“No. I don’t. Remember that Doctor Veronica hasn’t told any of us anything about her, but has proved herself as a steadfast ally against the angels. All of humanity despises them. Ester will no doubt carry the same opinion, she will fall in line soon enough. Besides, Ester is timid, you know this. She simply doesn’t know how to express her true intent well. I will hear no more about it. I need to focus on the score for the Celestial Hymn.”

The sound of Elcrest walking away was quickly made apparent as Xeno growled in mild irritation, the calm of the storm leading Ester to sit down on her bed

‘ _And he’s the worst of them all. Elcrest the Conductor. He corralled me into serving his mission of defeating those angels. That idiot truly thinks I am a complacent sheep that is loyal to him without question, bah, he is stupider than I thought. The thought of cooperating with humans makes me want to vomit. I’m doing this only because I want to destroy the source of these Qualias since it, indirectly or not, cursed me with this life I despise with every fiber of my being. Humans like him are irredeemable scum after all, savage beasts. As soon as I gain the opportunity, I’ll be following in Tryphena’s footsteps, but not for the same reasons as that twisted sociopath. Humanity turned their back on me and tried to have me killed solely because of this Qualia I have. It’s only right that I respond in kind. That woman killed for the sick pleasure of killing, no, I do it because it is my duty to avenge injustice. And I will not stop until the entire world has paid in blood- Wait a sec. Why is that this feels so...right yet feels...wrong? Especially since I am seemingly desiring to follow the path of a heartless murderer? Something is...I’ve recently wondered why there has been such a vicious cycle when it comes to the existence of the Thunder Qualia._ ’ Ester paused as she stared at the palm of her right hand, pushing her long purple hair to the back, covered with a silky white long glove which is part of her Witch dress, the ring that composes her Qualia on the other, which she keeps protected through the use of her shield, the design being relatively simple as it incorporates more armor than visible fabric, though she only keeps the armor equipped when she is about to go into battle, said armor being a white and bronze gold metallic chestplate which lacks the supplemental bevor and pauldrons, vambraces and gauntlets on both of her arms to help support her longsword and tower shield combat style, faulds, cuisses and greaves on both of her legs, but lacking the poleyns, instead covering her skin with a thin lilac fabric, with the under-armor being a rather generic lilac long dress ‘ _For as pretty and clean as these hands look, they’re soaked to the brim with human blood. Soaked because of the existence of this Qualia in this ring. But what brought this about? Why was Tryphena, my predecessor, so drawn to murder? Is it natural or-?_ ’ Questions brimming at this sudden chain of thought regarding herself and Tryphena had Ester close her eyes and focus inward, the very idea of such self-reflection is possible only because she is at peace for the first time since she acquired her Thunder Qualia years ago and thus her mental state is allowing her to focus on things other than hatred and death. To do this, she followed a process explained to her by Francisca and Ukuna that would allow a Witch to look into their Qualia and gasped loudly ‘ _H-How is that possible?! I-I thought that-!_ ’

Whatever Ester was going to say in her mind was interrupted when she heard a knock at the door “Lady Ester, it’s Xeno. Are you awake?”

“E-E-Urm, Y-Yes. I am.”

“I apologize if I woke you up. But would you mind if I could speak with you?”

“A-At o-once your highness!” This is one of the few times where Ester didn’t have to hide behind her facade of timidness since the very idea of speaking with nobility and royalty with immense amounts of power and influence terrified her to the core of her being. She’s in a foreign country she knows nothing about and she’s found herself wrapped around the upper echelons. She is oh so very aware that if she makes any kind of error in her approach, it is likely she will have an entire country after her instead of just a mere band of mercenaries and it is very likely that Regnant would inform neighboring nations so she’d have no place to hide in the long run. She has no intention of abandoning her mission but because of the circumstances at hand, she has to be very careful about her approach.

Jumping from her bed and rushing to the door, checking her appearance for a moment and brushing her dress straight, she opened it to see Xeno on the other side

“H-How c-can I h-help you your highness?”

“I’d like to speak with you if you wouldn’t mind. Take a little walk in the moonlight.”

“A-As you wish.”

* * *

 

12 years prior

It was over a decade prior in the small village of Transmere in the country of Larphen, Ester was just a young child at 6 years old with boyish short fawn brown hair, wearing a rather generic wardrobe meant to handle wandering rough terrain, being brought to the nearby forest alongside several other of the village children on their usual forays, Ester slowing down when they had passed through the forest’s entrance to the children’s ire

“Hey, hurry up slowpoke! We’ll never reach the fort if you keep being so slow!”

“But I-” Ester was struggling to keep pace with the other children in her group since she’s far from athletic, preferring to work with her mother at the floral boutique she runs which sells its products to other villages in the duchy: Larphen which neighbors Regnant’s northwestern borders, tagging along with her father who works as a craftsman or looking after her younger two year old brother while they work “You all know I don’t like going out here. Why do you keep dragging me along with you?”

“Come on, our fort is the best!”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s the best place in the world!”

Knowing that she’s going to be dragged along regardless of her own feelings, Ester reluctantly followed the group through the forest trails as much as she can, amidst her quickly earned fatigue, stopping when she noticed something sparkle in the nearby river, rushing to inspect the glowing object, finding it to be a ring with an amethyst gemstone.

“A ring? Did it flow from upriver? It’s so pretty but-” Whatever apprehensions Ester was carrying was dulling as she felt her body react to the ring’s presence and reached out to grab it from the riverbank “N-No...it’s not...mine. But, it’s so...pretty.” If Ester had any sort of self-control, it faded as she felt her mind wavering coupled with how she heard a strange sound ring out in her head. It was just words, but there was an unusual harmonic symphony to them, finally leading her to slide the ring onto her left index finger, but as soon as she had finished, she saw the gemstone glow as black and red flames erupting all around her “W-WAH!!! S-Someone help me!”

Despite her plea, the sounds of the flames overshadowed her voice, seeing the flame now envelop her body outright, her hair being altered from the curly brown which only went down to her ears to a silky violet flowing to the middle of her back, her brown eyes warping into a shiny ocean blue which lacks any sign of an iris, the clothes she wore being replaced with a violet and gold dress with a fair amount of metallic embellishments in the design. Glancing to her right hand, she saw a longsword with bright blue runes embedded throughout the obsidian blade and a tower shield manifested in her left, touching down to the ground with her heels, setting down the sword and shield as she inspected her new appearance in the river’s reflection, staring at the ring that now seems fastened to her finger after several attempts to remove it failed.

“W-What is this thing? How can a ring change how I look this much? And why can’t I take it off?!” Whatever questions she had on her mind were forced on hold as she heard screams in the distance, recognizing them as the other childrens’, grabbing her weapons and rushing in the direction of the screams “I-I’m scared, but I can’t let the others get hurt.”

Dashing through the forest trails, Ester struggled to keep stable balance because of how different her body has become in addition to her different clothes but managed to catch up to the group, being stared down by six large wolves with orange fur, murderous intent clear based on their snarling

“Y-You all had better get lost!” Despite her attempt to be brave, her voice was shaky and full of uneasiness at the sight of the monsters in front of her.

Upon her arrival, the other children ran in fear past her, in the direction of the village, leaving her with the wolves as she shook in anxiety at what she is facing as they lunged at her all at once, making Ester block them with her shield as much as possible despite her lack of combat training and poor stamina, but when three of the wolves were about to attack Ester’s exposed flanks, they were struck with lightning, killing them within seconds which made the rest flee. With peace seemingly manifesting, Ester looked about the scene as she saw a floating electrical biomechanical revenant having appeared from behind her, the sight of the creature making Ester run in utter terror, desperately trying to find a large enough tree to hide her body, taking a single glance at the creature to find it hasn’t moved at all despite Ester’s rapid movement away from it.

“Erm...uh…Did that thing kill the wolves? Why is it just standing-hovering there?” Her mind undecided as to the strange creature’s seemingly benign temperament since it killed three of the wolves when they were about to attack her yet leave her be, Ester slowly approached the creature “Erm...hi?”

[ **Monster threat neutralized. Initializing dispersal of mana particles.** ] Ester’s confusion only intensified when bursts of energy erupted from the creature as it vanished, hiding behind her shield to protect herself, now being by herself as she pants in fatigue, her prior adrenaline fading rapidly.

“Ugh, this stuff is so heavy. How did I even reach the others with this stuff, let alone defend myself? I want to go home and sleep.” Taking a moment to recall how the town watch handles their weapons, Ester puts the shield on her back and the sword sheath underneath the shield as she began to move, stumbling and nearly falling forward as her balance is out of order since she had never worn heels before “Woah woah woah woah!”

It took everything she had to stay stable, holding onto a nearby tree as she slowly circles it to try adjusting before finally gaining enough standing to begin walking back to the village, finally reaching the walls after an extra hour of slow walking when she saw the town watch marching out and surrounding her with swords and spears drawn against her, making her squirm in fear

“Freeze Witch!”

The declaration of Witch made Ester shrink in utter disbelief, especially when horror stories of Witches was far from discreet in classifying them as irredeemable servants of evil ‘ _I-I-I’m a...Witch..._ **_NO!!!!!!_** ’ The idea had never truly come to mind but considering that the people she considered her neighbors seemed ready to fight her if she made any hasty moves only served to frighten her further, only to have her arms tightly grabbed by two of the guards and restrained behind her back with sturdy wooden handcuffs “L-Let me go!”

“Silence! The only good Witch is one locked away from society, where you’ll never be able to harm any of our people.”

“B-But I would never-!”

“I said silence Witch!” In response to Ester’s attempted plea, one of the guards gathered all of his strength as he slapped her face, leaving a bright red mark and sending her down to the ground with a shriek of pain.

After roughly pulling her back up, the guards dragged Ester toward the village’s jail, built into a crevice of the nearby mountain, which was once a mine that was abandoned when the deposits ran thin, and upon reaching one of the cells, the jailor opened the door as the guards roughly threw Ester in and locked the door behind her. After hitting the ground, Ester struggled to pick herself up and limped to the bars keeping her in her cell

“N-No! Please! I don’t belong in here!” This plea went unanswered, making Ester’s eyes water as she fell to her knees and began to cry “D-Daddy. M-Mommy...please.”

* * *

 

This was only the start as Ester spent the next six months imprisoned before she was finally released, but over the next decade she found herself being arrested nearly thirty more times with varying rates of incarceration time, the reasons were often things like failed harvests, a store’s products being shattered in the middle of the night or other such reasons when she had absolutely nothing to do with it. As Ester grew older, her bitterness toward her fellow villagers began stewing underneath her shy facade she crafted to hide the extent of her anger and it was clear to her she was becoming a scapegoat for any of the village’s tragedies and would be imprisoned even if she had been in her home the entire time, with her family being witness to said presence, as the repeated incarcerations only served to destroy Ester’s willingness to see herself as human since the villagers were keen to dehumanize her and she began to lose hope in any sort of companionship in the village she was born in.

The one time she felt they had any sort of merit was back during one of Ester’s early imprisonments since she was trying to learn what her powers were in the seclusion of the forest so she could control them since she didn’t want to risk any sort of incontinence with her abilities but the villagers clearly disagreed with her stance since they think ignoring it is far more ideal, but she was thrown into the jail yet again since someone had apparently seen her doing that very thing and that had resulted in her longest imprisonment in a whole year. But what she believed crossed the line was that, in addition to that span of imprisonment, the jailor decided to take an extra measure to discourage Ester from ever trying to do anything of the sort again.

* * *

 

After the years following this incident, which only served to initiate the festering rage Ester began feeling toward the beasts she called human, Ester was made aware of an irregularity in the events that played out day to day, even though it had started as uniform as could be, which was two months prior to her joining Elcrest. On that very day, Ester was in her room staring at the notebook that had compiled various details about the flowers they sell and grabbing a nearby canister of red face paint, dipping a few fingers in and applied it across her face and body to create some thunder design tattoos, wincing in pain at the mere touch, pushing through nonetheless, taking a moment to twist her head as she looked at herself in the mirror

‘ _I suppose it’s important to look the part if you’re a Witch. Hide the scars. A so-called servant of evil, though I refuse to submit to any so called Master. I am my own-_ ’ Ester strayed from her train of thought when she heard a knock on the door

“Ester dear, dinner’s ready if you want to eat.”

‘ _Oh please, like your attempts to play friendly are going to work NOW of all times. I know your true nature after twelve years of neglect._ ’ A pause followed suite as Ester felt her stomach rumble, her cheeks flushing with mild embarrassment ‘ _I’m only doing this because I’m starving._ ’ Pulling herself from her chair and readjusting her wardrobe to cover her more exposed elements from how she had been applying paint on herself, she walked toward the door but stopped when she heard a familiar synthetic voice in her mind, a glance showing her shadow warping in shape to fit the revenant’s build.

[ **Status report Master Ester.** ]

Her body having been paralyzed for a moment upon the sudden telepathic response from her familiar as she had extended her arm to the door retracted herself and straightened her body as she closed her eyes ‘ _Let’s hear it._ ’

[ **There is an unusual level of activity amidst the townspeople, but their daily routines appear static.** ]

‘ _That’s...bizarre. Hmm._ ’ Ester paused as she cupped her chin with her hand ‘ _I don’t like this Thastel. These humans aren’t the sort to get that enthused outside of festivals. Stay alert. I’ve given no hints that I’ve been preparing to escape this village for the last two years but something could have tipped them off. If it seems like confrontation will be initiated before preparations are complete, come forth and enact the plan early. In the meantime, start gathering information. Find out what has these humans so alert._ ’

[ **Acknowledged.** ]

Departing from her presence, Ester’s shadow once again warped, this time back into her natural form and crossed through the door’s underside as Ester followed suite, opening and closing the door, climbing down the stairs to the ground floor as she sees the three people she just barely considers family at this point: her father: Marcus, her mother: Amina, and her younger brother: Nakata assembling at the dinner table, silently joining them

“What do you have on your face young lady?!”

“They’re called tattoos Marcus. Geez, the people in this village are seriously behind the times.”

“I will not tolerate that kind of language Ester. I am your father and will not be addressed in such a manner!”

“Like you have any right to call yourself that after-!” In response to this irrefutable anger, Ester retaliated in kind since she does not want to hear anything even remotely close to the idea of familial bonds since, as far as she cares, they were severed the day she became a Witch.

Both parties were about to escalate the conflict before Amina stepped in to defuse the growing hostility brewing between the pair “Now dears, we’re about to eat. Please don’t fight.”

“Fine.” Despite the supposed reassurance, Marcus was far from amused about Ester’s casual remark toward him, and Ester shared a similar feeling herself, mentally kicking herself for allowing herself to stray from her facade when she’s so close to the day she is able to escape for good.

Deciding to then ignore her father from then on, Ester walked toward the table, pulled up a chair and sat down as she grabbed the table utensils in front of her, silently eating some of the grilled vegetables and poultry on her plate with practiced elegance, the motions being second nature to her, especially with how much focus she had been pouring into her shy persona, and quickly finishes eating before anyone else as she pulls herself from the chair

“I’m going to go for a walk. Thank you for the food Amina.” Her tone being rather reticent, something more in line and appropriate to her crafted personality, Ester turned heel toward the door as she pushed open the door and stepped outside, covering her eyes with her sleeve for a few moments until they adjusted to the differing environments, the sky a dull gold from the evening sky.

As soon as her eyes felt more comfortable to the sight of natural light, Ester began walking about, trying to make it seem like she was doing it aimlessly when, in reality, she was inspecting the village’s locales much like she had been for the past two years

‘ _Hmm, the level of guard along the walls is standard but they’ve increased patrols within the village itself. Why? Why are they so...active? I think Thastel was right. Something’s going on. And I don’t like it._ ’

[ **Master Ester, hostility levels are escalating.** ]

Per this warning, Ester took to look about the immediate surroundings and found one of the senior guards slowly approaching her, sword drawn, quickly followed by eight additional guards in every direction

“Erm, is something-is something wrong?” Ester genuinely hated how demure she made herself appear but she had to keep to the plan she had begun forming two years ago ‘ _Just keep calm Ester. Soon. Very soon, I’ll be able to escape this place. I’ve had Thastel gather supplies for me that he hides in the shadows. Away from the concept of degradation._ ’

“The fact you infest our proud village with your mere presence is criminal enough Witch. You were explicitly forbidden from leaving that hovel you call a home. Clearly that failure of a parent Amina is incapable of punishing a savage like you.” Ester did all she could to hide her rage at the second comment since, despite her own personal feelings of rage against the entirety of the village including those of her family, she still holds proud memories of her home, especially the comment against her mother. She despises her family for their neglect but she acknowledged how Amina at least _tries_ to be maternal. It took everything Ester had to avoid summoning her sword so she could run it through the offending party’s stomach.

‘ _These bastards are flat out pissing me off now! I cannot WAIT until I am able to kill these filthy humans. I want to kill but I need to restrain until Thastel finds me a place I can lay low. That, and discover what happened to the previous Thunder Witch since he was one of her familiars. Funny that Thastel has zero loyalty to her since I have the Thunder Qualia now. So even if she’s still alive, he won’t obey her, though considering how this Qualia can’t be removed through any means I know of, it only makes sense that she has been killed. I just don’t know how. I have no idea how her ring ended up in the river near the village here since I’ve heard through happenstance that Tryphena was concentrated around Regnant to the southeast. It only makes sense that she had fled the country but I’m curious why she went so far._ ’ Once she finished this chain of thought, she immediately focused her mindset into maintaining her shy facade “S-Sorry. I-I didn’t know. I thought my-my sentence was over.”

“A likely story Witch!”

Her attempts at being oblivious and demure was responded with a guard that was behind her striking the back of her head with the pommel of his sword which sent her reeling forward as she is quickly caught with her arms restrained behind her, dragging her to the jail yet again and thrown to the ground without the slightest sense of compassion but this time, where Ester would normally be crying or pleading, Ester evilly smirked after hearing the outer door close after the guards left, especially after inspecting the metal bars that were restraining her in this prison, finding them on the verge of collapse even if they appear fine on the surface

“Heh, those idiots haven’t been maintaining their equipment or even suspecting that a Witch wouldn’t be plotting an escape. They think I’ve been broken. HA! I’m likely going to be in here for some time so I can take things slow and ensure I have an opportune window to execute my plan.”

* * *

 

After a few hours passed, Ester heard the door open again and footsteps approach her cell, the sight of the jailor appearing on the other side of the bars with a tray of rather high quality food in his hands, but what caught her off-guard was the bottle of wine that he also passed along as well

“Enjoy your final meal Witch.” This cold remark was followed by him leaving the tray of food on the floor in front of the bars when he had opened the door, which did not go unnoticed by Ester.

“Eh? Final meal?” Where Ester’s public stance was her being confused about the subject at hand, underneath the surface, Ester is oh so aware and angry about it ‘ _Oh these_ **_bastards_** _! Now I finally understand why the village is so on edge. They’ve found an executioner willing to kill me and they anticipated that I’d try to flee. No wonder the guards arrested me without any kind of provocation this time. Shit. I needed a few more days before my plan is solidified, before my escape is without complication. I need to forgo stability when my life is on the line._ ’

“Oh yes. After twelve years of misfortune, we’ve finally found the mercenary band who had killed the previous Thunder Witch and they agreed to our plea. Come this time tomorrow, you and that blasted Thunder Qualia will be out of our hands once and for all. You may as well have the right to a fancy meal before you die. Farewell Witch scum.”

Once she heard the jailor leave and close the door, Ester closed her eyes and turned her head downward “This is _not good_. I needed time to make sure I could reach a place where I would be free but I suppose I’ll have to stick to the wilderness for a time, find a way to avoid that band of mercenaries. I’m a half baked Witch compared to Tryphena since I’ve spent nearly half my life in captivity so they’ll have a much easier time killing me if they get here.” Despite being only seventeen, Ester decided to start by grabbing the bottle of wine and poured some of it into the glass that was also provided, drinking it in one take “Thastel. We need to accelerate our timing. Follow the villagers’ shadows and find out where the mercenaries are coming from so I know where to expect them and take steps accordingly. And tomorrow at ten in the morning, we are going to act. I’m not at peak performance and I’ll need as much energy as possible for the escape. Wake me a half hour beforehand.”

[ **Acknowledged Master Ester.** ]

* * *

 

With the order given, Ester went about eating her so called ‘final’ meal but abruptly stopped when nearly half had been seemingly been devoured by shadow, making Ester puff her cheeks in anger

“Damn it Thastel, give that food back! I want to eat!”

[ **Negative Master Ester. Current internal nutrient levels are above recommended quota.** ]

“Oh you must be-!” Ester growled with the rage of a ravenous beast “Great, even my familiar is lecturing me.” After letting the anger in her system vent out, she let out a discontent sigh “I say it’s time I finish the remix to Tryphena’s song you’ve passed onto me. Ironic that a demon would name her song after something holy and sacred like Goddess. Thastel, once I begin the incantation of the song, prepare to fight anyone armed who would want to do me harm.”

[ **Acknowledged.** ]

With this promise being made vocal by Thastel, Ester then began to feel her smile warp into one belonging to a person whose mind has long since been warped by madness and near incapable of curing “You know, this will be the first time I actually sing anything. I’m sure those humans will enjoy the melody I will bring to them. If not, then, well...hehehehe, they won’t be around to criticize. I am going to enjoy the moment I am freed of these shackles.” Ester then let out a loud demented laugh before taking some time to calm herself down as the lyrics Ester had written for the song that had originally been composed by Tryphena come to the forefront of her mind, cupping her hands in front of her face [ **Born from the Sea and the Waves from a Cosmic Array of the colours in space-** ] As much as she had wanted to, Ester kept these lyrics trapped in mental form since any sort of physical evidence ran the risk of the villagers becoming aware of her activities, also stopping after only singing one verse from the middle since she wants this song to be done when she undergoes her escape since she has been informed by Thastel that the song will be the catalyst to drive them into a near mindless frenzy to kill anything that would do harm to the Lightning Witch. Best to save it for when she has to escape.

* * *

 

Since her food was taken away and from how it was remarkably close to night, Ester decided to rest early when she approached the cloth sack that constituted as her bed and let herself and when the morn had arrived, Ester was roused by her slumber by Thastel’s voice

[ **It is time Master Ester.** ]

The sudden manifestation of his voice had Ester weakly stretch her arms outward to start waking herself up, with a loud groan as she attempted to adjust “Some water please? I’m dehydrated.” Seeing a small water bottle manifest from her shadow, Ester took said bottle and brought it to her lips “Ahhh, that hits the spot. And considering my so called final meal was yesterday, the jailor’s not going to be coming back here.” With her senses now restored, Ester summoned her sword and shield, holding the sword true to her heart, running her finger along the flat end of the blade to activate the runes embedded within to strengthen its durability and quickly unleashed a number slashes against the bars much like she had been doing during her prior incarcerations the last two years to damage them to the point where Thastel could shatter them for this grand display since he is more oriented toward this kind of blunt attacks with the gauntlets he uses as weapons “Okay Thastel, unleash your power and destroy this cell.”

What surprised Ester this time was that Thastel did not reply as he emerged from Ester’s shadow and struck the cell bars with astounding force, shattering it enough to send a large enough segment that Ester can walk through against the adjacent wall. “Well done Thastel.” After giving this compliment, Ester approached the door that links this jail to the outside door, knowing that she had Thastel secretly weaken the hinge supports so gradually that it was undetectable “Now, send this door flying. This will be our grand gesture where we will unleash my full fury upon these humans. Make them regret how they have treated me for the past decade.” Taking a few steps backwards so Thastel could strike without mercy, she was pleasantly surprised at how strongly Thastel attacked the door, seeing it truly fly and crash into the roof of a house near the center of the village “Bit...overkill there Thastel. But I like it. Let us go.”

Walking a slow, methodic, walk down toward the village center where a good number of villagers had quickly assembled from the shock of how Thastel sent the jail door crashing into a rooftop, Ester drew her shield to help supplement the sword she held in her right hand with Thastel behind her

“H-How did the Witch free herself?!”

“W-What is that abomination with her?!”

“Summon the guards at once! We must restrain the Thunder Witch at all costs!”

Ester silently chuckled at the first two remarks but grimly frowned at the last as she extended her sword outward “Thastel, surround the plaza! Do not let any of these humans escape us!” Upon her command, nine additional revenants appeared around the open space, blocking each possible entrance serving to ensnare the villagers. It actually took Ester some time to comprehend the idea that Thastel isn’t the name of an individual but rather, the name of this particular species sworn to the Lightning Witch. Smirking amusedly at the villagers shivering at fear at Thastel’s terrifying presence, Ester began to slowly circle the area in front of her familiars “As you can see simpletons, I am not the weak little sheep that you’ve long thought for the last twelve years. You’ve spent all this time thinking you are the wolves keeping this cowardly sheep suppressed but in reality, this ‘cattle’ has been preparing for this very day. Not going to lie, I was actually going to escape peacefully and let you all live when I had completed my preparations but you just had to go and contact mercenaries to execute me.” Ester paused as she began to laugh maniacally “It’s funny that your decision to finally be rid of the Thunder Witch will be what will turn into your undoing. Alpha, stay here and protect me. Thastel, ready yourselves for my song. Annihilate the village and kill anyone who takes up arms against us!!!” Because of how Thastel is the name of the species, Ester decided that she should name them for situations where she has to issue complicated orders, labeling the ten of them: Alpha, Beta, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Theta, Lambda, Sigma, Chi, and Omega when she learned there were ten of them, with a blanket mention of Thastel if she is engaged in mere conversation. Because of how they have zero differences between them, Ester hasn’t been able to distinguish them individually, but she does know that the one following her every move is Alpha since it was what she ordered it to do.

Stabbing her sword into the ground and hanging the shield against it, Ester tapped into the flow of magic in the air as she readied herself to sing the song which will bring about destruction and disorient the villagers within Transmere, the blue energy that composed much of its being rapidly turning a dark violet as they charge into action.

[ **Welcome us with your light. Grace the morning sky. Comfort Luna as she wanes from Terra’s might. Veiled in amber haze, fueled by violent rage. Dancing discordant, spinning in retrograde-** ]

Fueled by Ester’s song of rage, Thastel began fighting the assembled village watch without restraint, either through their abilities of thunder or through physical force, but what surprised her was that the watch were able to respond with a surprisingly strong amount of resistance, much to Ester’s confusion since they shouldn’t be able to match a single member of Thastel’s species, especially when much of the electricity elemental attacks are being negated to an extent, making Ester reel back in shock and cease singing the song, both from said shock and from how it was no longer needed.

‘ _H-How is this possible?! Why is Thastel’s electricity not killing these humans?!?!_ ’

[ **Master Ester. The enemy possesses electrical conductors in silver shields. Electricity elemental attacks are being rendered inert.** ]

The report made Ester grind her teeth with great rage since the plan she spent two years building up for is being ruined ‘ ** _DAMN THESE HUMANS!!!_ ** _For all the planning I’ve done, they’ve found some way to counteract it. Thastel, unleash your electrical attacks against the buildings here. I don’t care about the noncombatants’ safety anymore._ **_DESTROY_ ** _their morale and this entire village! Set it aflame with your power!!!_ ’

[ **Acknowledged. Initiating paradigm shifts in combat protocols.** ]

In response to Ester’s order, four of the units changed direction and unleashed their attacks against the buildings while the other five continued fighting the watch with increased vigor, forgoing elemental thunder with physical assault, Ester smirking at how one of the guards was savagely beaten to death by Lambda ‘ _Heh, that was the bastard who first had me thrown into that jail twelve years ago. I am so ecstatic that Thastel killed him first._ ’

Upon seeing that the tide is turning in her favor, Ester’s prior hatred began to fade out with warped amusement from the safety of the upward incline toward the jail, especially from the fact that the mortality rate of the people within the encirclement is rapidly escalating but was quickly brought to attention by the watch quickly assembling some of their rank against Ester

“Forget the beasts, kill the Thunder Witch!”

‘ _Leave this to me Alpha._ ’ Tightening her hold on her sword and shield, she quickly blocked two of the sword strikes with her shield and struck back with her sword which had actually cut deep enough to split the blades in half ‘ _W-Woah. I had_ ** _no_** _idea this blade was strong enough to cut through metal like silver. And it didn’t even faze my sword. What material is this if it can cut through metal without so much as a dent?_ ’ Amidst this momentary confusion, Ester began to realize possibilities that would only spawn from a mind beyond redemption ‘ _And if it can cut through metal so easily then...hehehehe._ ’ “You idiots are clearly asking to die a slow, painful, death. Thastel would’ve spared you the suffering and simply killed you quick.” Just to emphasize, as soon as she finished speaking, she acted without hesitation in fighting the guards that rushed to fight her, her face and upper torso being painted a brighter shade of red from blood as they collapse to the ground on the verge of death with Ester adamant on leaving them to die as she began to walk in the direction of the nearest exit, stopping when two familiar voices called out to her

* * *

 

“Big sister!”

“Ester!”

Pausing in place, Ester turned around to see Nakata and Amina rushing to where had been standing, Alpha ready to unleash his lightning against the pair, making Ester quickly reach her hand outward

“Stand down Alpha. These two are to be spared.” Ester questioned this seemingly lapse of judgement as Alpha obeyed her order, allowing the pair to approach without any sort of consequence, further surprised at how they are seemingly unafraid of getting close to her when she has her sword and shield drawn and has blood on her features “I’m not sure whether to call you brave or foolish humans. I could’ve let Thastel fry you alive with his thunder. So...why? Why approach a cursed Witch who is orchestrating the murder of your friends and neighbors?”

“Big sister, why are you doing this? This is your home!”

“Oh please. I haven’t thought of this forsaken abomination of a village as a home for years now. I’ve spent the last two years planning to escape this place. I was going to be nice and just sneak away in the middle of the night and spare all your lives, but you forfeited any and all niceties when you people summoned the mercenaries who killed the previous Thunder Witch to kill me in turn. Your arrogance is your undoing.”

“Ester dear, where do you plan on going if you’re leaving us?”

“I’d tell you, but I’d have to kill you both. To avoid being followed by those hunters.”

“I would never do anything that would bring harm to my little girl.”

“Hmm…” Ester paused as she turned away from their faces “I’m going to Regnant. Being here in Larphen threatens my safety. It’s a big country so there’s plenty of space to hide.” After giving this answer, she turns back to face the pair, her sword sheathed and her hold on her shield strengthened “I’m not going to risk you humans giving the hunters any information about this, so I have to render you unconscious for a day or two.” Quickly casting a spell under her breath, she slammed her shield against the pair which unleashed a surge of electricity strong enough to make them lose consciousness “Alpha. Report.”

[ **Human bodies given 0.05 amperes of electrical voltage. No internal damage detected.** ]

“Perfect.” Smirking for a brief moment at the sight, she turned heel yet again “It’s time to go. Thastel, continue devastating the village and killing anyone who resists.”

* * *

 

Knowing she has limited time, Ester took off into a run to the southeast, moving north just enough to avoid the hunters since they would be proceeding through the paved paths that lead to Transmere, finally stopping when she entered a nearby forest at dusk, collapsing at the trunk of a large tree and panted heavily, her heart feeling like it is on the verge of collapse

“That...that was...too much. Thastel. I need...I-I need...water. Food.”

After seeing a bottle of water and a plate of food manifest from the shadow of the tree in front of her, she dove in like a ravenous beast desperate for nourishment, said items vanishing as soon as she had finished them off. With her strength returning to some extent, Ester changed out of her witch dress and into a hiker wardrobe which will help her with extended travel

“T-That’s...good. Thastel. What is...Transmere like?”

[ **Population levels reduced to thirty eight percent and fifty six buildings have been destroyed with eighty seven damaged.** ]

“Good. And the people I asked you to leave be?”

[ **Unharmed and in recovery. Master Ester, why did you designate them as protectorates?** ]

Mustering what strength she could, Ester simply shrugged her shoulders as she let herself lean against the tree “Call it a stupid, misguided, moment of undeserved empathy. But make no mistake. it stands. I won’t let myself become wishy-washy with my decision making.”

[ **Acknowledged.** ]

“Hey...keep an eye on the area. I’m going to get some rest. Warn me if anyone approaches.”

* * *

 

After spending the night in the forest to recuperate her strength, Ester officially began her trek south toward Regnant, discovering from Thastel that the mercenaries had arrived in Transmere like anticipated and because Ester’s mother and brother were unconscious, they were unable to ascertain her exact location but the surviving villagers did convey that she fled to the southeast and took to the chase. Knowing she has to keep herself moving at all times, Ester reluctantly moved to the road to speed up her travel but had found herself attacked by the monstrous Angels two to four times a week leading her to have to fight them off, indirectly saving four villages in the process but aside from that, her travels were relatively safe up until near the end of the second month as they had actually managed to catch up to her, the fifteen member group all wearing wolf themed armor keeping the entirety of their individual identities unknown.

“You’ve given us quite the runaround Thunder Witch, making us chase you for two months. It’s time for you to die bitch!”

“You really think you’ll be able to kill me? You filthy beasts are borderline incompetent. If you _were_ serious, you wouldn’t be here since you had fought Tryphena but failed to destroy her Qualia which I now have.” Ester chuckled as she drew her sword and shield “You want to dance? Very well then. Let’s go.”

Tightening her stance, she dashed into battle against the mercenaries with remarkable skill as she had been able to study battle techniques by secretly ordering manuals from an eccentric black market merchant she met when she was experimenting with her powers and was willing to smuggle them in since he was a client of the previous Thunder Witch: Tryphena and had assisted in getting her out of Regnant. At first, Ester was terrified by his very appearance and mannerisms in addition to how she was fearful of people at the time but later came to see the merchant as one of the few 'allies' she gives any sort of trust towards, having aided Ester over the years by having the covers replaced with more civilian botanical books during her time in Transmere.

Because of her skill in battle, she was able to keep pace with the mercenaries to some success but the ‘stability’ of the battlefield was interrupted by the sudden arrival of a third party as a short girl with black hair and green eyes wielding a katana struck fast and hard with a downward slash when she leaped into the air with her companions soon arriving after her, establishing a line formation. Among the newcomers, Ester noticed that seven of them were armored knights outfitted with swords, a man with short brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a more ornate set of armor primarily colored red and gold with a spear in hand, another having dark blue hair and gold eyes wearing an outfit similar in design to the man with brown hair but with oversized steel vambraces and well-armored greaves and cuisse. And then there were four other women with a variety of weapons in hand: staff, bow, rifle, and scythe, each having distinct appearances from one another.

“H-Huh? Back-up?” Ester was baffled at the sight, especially with the idea of her being helped in any form aside from her familiar in Thastel, the merchant aside since he was not a fighter in any sense of the term.

[ **Master Ester, there are seven Qualias detected within their roster: Water, Wind, Fire, Earth, Time, Radiant, and Void. Five are active and bonded to Witches.** ]

‘ _Witches? So they’re from Regnant? Why did they come all the way out here? I can try asking later. What’s important is killing these bastards._ ’

* * *

 

With the arrival of reinforcements on Ester’s side, the mercenaries were quickly dispatched with zero losses to the Witches and their allies as the newcomers reorganized themselves into a wedge formation

“Are you okay stranger? Why were those bandits trying to kill you?”

“I-I-I’m-I’m okay. And I’m not...sure. I was just-just traveling south. Er-Uh. M-May I ask who you are?” With the chaos ending, Ester sheathed her sword and shield, carefully hiding the ring that her Thunder Qualia manifested itself as, and exercised her shy persona yet again since she knows trying to fight right now would be akin to suicide and since it was clear that these newcomers were unaware of the truth, Ester fabricated the idea she was simply an innocent traveler who was simply being attacked by bandits.

“Ah yes. My name is Xeno, King of the Regnant Kingdom. This is my friend Elcrest, the Conductor, the knights you see are a segment of my royal guard and the ladies you see with us are the Witches: Francisca, Millicent, Kaede, Ukuna, and Hilda.”

‘ _Wait, this guy is the king of Regnant?! Wait, am I actually in their territory now? I thought I was still in Larphen._ ’ “Y-You’re from Regnant? I-I was actually on my way there before I was-was caught in that fight. O-Oh. I’m sorry! I forgot to introduce myself after you did! I-I’m Ester. I-If you don’t mind my asking, what brings you all the way out here Your-Your Majesty?”

“We’ve heard rumors that a new Thunder Witch was seen in this area so we came to investigate since we have had conflicts with the previous Thunder Witch. We’re hoping to have a more peaceful exchange and bring her into our ranks.”

“The-The Thunder Witch? You’re searching for her?” Ester began to feel her heartbeat speed up exponentially out of unease, fearing that this unexpected assistance will be short-lived and she will have to fight her way out.

“That’s right. Do you know who the new Thunder Witch is?”

“Um. Yeah. I do.” After being asked this question by Xeno, Ester, under the control of her shy persona, shrunk in fear as she revealed the ring that symbolized her Thunder Qualia and fought to stop her body and voice from stuttering “T-That’s me. I’m the Thunder Witch you were looking for.”

“Elc, this is wonderful news. We’ve found the Thunder Witch in record time. And she’s cooperative unlike Tryphena if what you told us is true.”

Hearing the name of Tryphena being mentioned by Francisca had Ester’s attention peaked since she was interested to know what kind of person her predecessor was since she was kept imprisoned for much of her life in Transmere but she had to keep things vague to avoid any potential complications.

“Tryphena? Who’s that?”

“Tryphena is the previous Thunder Witch. Your predecessor. I had the utmost misfortune of meeting her a few weeks after I tuned the Void and Radiant Witches: Orana and Apollonia ten years ago. But Tryphena killed them both and a number of Xeno’s knights before going into hiding.”

“Ten years ago? So...when I was a young child. Erm, have you found successors to them?” As much as she attempted to hide her curiosity behind her facade, Ester tried to explore the matter at hand as much as possible, to know as much as possible. She was unable to gather knowledge because of the circumstances at hand and strived to change that as much as she could.

“Unfortunately no. For whatever reason, we can’t get the Qualias to resonate with anyone new. Hopefully we can figure out the reason now that you’re here. Come on, let’s go.”

“H-Eh? G-Go where?”

“Regnant. Our kingdom needs your power as the Thunder Witch. As soon as we finish our mission, you will be free to leave.”

Hearing the rather brash remark from Elcrest had the others display expressions of shock

“Elc, you’re being too cruel right now! You can’t just conscript this woman out of the blue.”

“Xeno’s right Elcrest! This situation is different from when you tuned all of us. We’re obligated to flight God’s Angels. Even if this girl is the Thunder Witch- Actually. Ester right?” Realizing something important before asking this question, which was answered with a nod from Ester, Kaede tightened her sight onto her “Where are you from actually?”

Ester had to hide the urge to double-take in surprise at the sudden question of her origins, knowing that if she reveals too much, they’d surely discover how she went on a murderous rampage two months ago. Under normal circumstances, she’d gladly put all these people to the sword but she’s outnumbered, weary from travel, and unaware of her environs. Each point alone is a risk to her life and all three combined is a death sentence that she is uncomfortable with taking in addition to she’s been feeling her anger unusually fluctuating all over the place over the prior two months as if she has far less control over her very being than she had originally thought. She could feel a willingness to fight and kill begin to well up within her but actively strove to fight against it for the time being, urging her self-defense instincts forward.

“I-I’m from Larphen. And erm. You’re fighting Angels? I’ve been doing the same.” Ester paused as she revealed her off-hand, which was hidden with a black glove as she pulls it off and pulls up her arm, revealing multiple fresh scars in addition to several old burns “I actually got attacked by a fair number of Angels on my way here which led to me getting scarred after fighting some huge kind with a ring on its back. If you’re wondering...erm...I was caught off-guard in the first ambush and suffered burns. I’ve tried treating them but they’ve seemed permanent so I decided to cover myself with face paint.” What Ester had conveyed regarding were half-truths Ester paused as she felt her body feel heavy as she fell to her knees, the fatigue from almost constant travel and keeping her guard up against the mercenaries that were attempting to kill her having built up severely for the past two months which had been forcing her to rely heavily on adrenaline “Ugh...so...tired.”

“Hilda, Fran, get her to the caravan so she can rest! Everyone, get ready to move. We’re returning to the capital.”

* * *

 

Present day

Preparations had been made for the assault on God, the decision being made to consider Ester as the Lightning Witch to distinguish herself from Tryphena's reign as the Thunder Witch, as Elcrest’s forces departed for the Yggdrasil to slay the entity known as God with a clear formation with all participants planned out after weeks of preparation done when Xeno had abruptly arrived on site with his royal guard

“...Alright. We’ll see this through together, Xeno.”

“That’s more like it!”

His resolve solidifying, Elcrest drew his sword and held it in front of him before letting it rest by his side as he looked at the team assembled in front of him “Let’s go everyone! This is the decisive battle!”

‘ _The battle where we will destroy the source of all Qualias. Hehehe, If I am lucky, I might be able to kill these foolish humans as well. I’ve been waiting for this for six months. I just have to play nice for a while and ‘defend’ the Conductor. Bah, the thought of mere protecting this bastard sickens me to the core. I want to run him through with my sword so bad I have to fight the urge to drool in glee. Okay Ester, focus on priorities. God first, Witches second, and the idiotic humans last. Except maybe...that one. We’ll see._ ’

* * *

 

Goddess Lyrics:

Welcome us with your light

Grace the morning sky

Comfort Luna as she wanes from Terra's might

Veiled in amber haze

Fueled by violent rage

Dancing, Discordant, Spinning in retrograde

 

Born from the sea

and the waves

From a cosmic array

Of the colours in space

Nothingness erased

Come dance with her

In the stars

Watch her transit afar

Crossing Sol's burning gaze

Venus sets ablaze

 

Born from the sea

And the waves

From a cosmic array

Of the colours in space

Nothingness erased

Come dance with her

In the stars

Watch her transit afar

Crossing Sol's burning gaze

Venus sets ablaze

 

Born from the sea

And the waves

From a cosmic array

Of the colours in space

Nothingness erased

Come dance with her

In the stars

Watch her transit afar

Crossing Sol's burning gaze

Venus sets ablaze

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys, while I’m not sure how to work in the lyrics in this story because of the format here, what I will do is post the lyrics of each song that is used in this story in their debut chapter at the very end. Ester’s ‘corrupted’ song will be the song: Goddess from the youtube channel Cepheid, sung by Nonon, which was suggested by someone I consider a very good friend: MeromeroSaharade. While the lyrics are a little bit on the bland side compared to how full of life the other Witches’ songs are from this game, in addition to my other considered songs (which are in the next paragraph), I think they are fitting enough considering Ester’s character at the current moment. When you consider that Ester spent less than two years even contemplating the idea of singing music and even attempting it, having a song on the simplistic side is more fitting than something long and complex in my honest opinion. But when it comes to my decision as a person, I’m not sure, something about that song’s melody just plain entrapped me. However, this song is not one of Ester’s ‘true’ songs that she will possess. Because of the darkness in Ester’s heart, it led her to tap into her hatred to sing a corrupted song, think of it something similar to Hilda’s Song of Ruin. Now, I have chosen Ester's max affinity song but I'm still searching for her regular song since I want it to fit a specific theme.
> 
> Originally I was contemplating four options that seemed ‘dark’: the Vocaloid song: Saikin Osen or in english: Bacterial Infection, particularly the english cover done by Lizz Robinett on youtube, the song: Chronos on Cepehid's channel much like Goddess, Amalee’s or Dima Lancaster’s cover of Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni.
> 
> The lyrics to Saikin Osen aren’t a perfect fit, but damn does this song fit the feelings Ester possesses while also establishing those of her fellow villagers, this idea came from the fact that a friend of mine is obsessed with Vocaloid and I know it has a lot of genres under its belt so I went looking through their roster and found Saikin Osen fitting ultimately. Give or take some oddities.
> 
> Whereas Saikin Osen is borderline scary, both Amalee’s and Dima Lancaster’s cover of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni from the anime of the same name, for the most part, hid the scarier instrumentals and had the lyrics fit the theme I was looking for.
> 
> As for Chronos, it does fit the situation of Ester's predicament well enough but I ultimately went with Goddess since it has a bit more simplicity which fits more since that was the first time Ester has ever sung anything. It makes sense I'd choose something light, so to speak.
> 
> Next, I want to acknowledge that four segments here in this chapter have been cut short. I’m leaving these parts out since they’re going to be a part of Ester’s four tuning sessions with Alto later down the road.
> 
> Now, the name of Ester’s home nation in this setting: Larphen actually comes from a fan-game sequel called Stella Glow: Last Song created by a small team from the youtube channel: Sarcastic Asexual Megane. I admittedly don’t know much about the lore yet beyond a few key details but I can conclude that Larphen is a neighboring country to what would become Hildegaria based on a scene near the end of the demo shown on YT. While I will admit that lore will likely clash with the one I am making here but I don’t necessarily see the harm in this since it’s hardly unexpected to see different fan-works having different stances on matters within the respective universe, especially since I’m doing this with an intent to give SaM a bit of free publicity of sorts while also performing some transformative reuse for my own fan-work.
> 
> Lastly, this is something I’ve been thinking about but would you want me to embed image links in my author notes when it comes to what I am basing my character appearances off of so you can see what I’m working with? I’m admittedly not all that good when it comes to describing my original characters but that honestly kind of comes with who I am as a person. I work best with images and struggle with full text descriptions. Now, know that I never take the image as is or claim ownership over any of the images I use in my work, I use them as a concept as I build my character’s appearance with distinct differences in mind enough with the intent to make it my own as much as possible. If I had any talent in art, I'd be doing this myself.


	2. Revival

“-ake up!” After what seemed like an endless sleep, a frantic voice rang out from around her, with muffled screams in the distance “-ake up!!” Even still, the voice that seems to be calling out for this person was panicked, a shaking sensation followed this shout, senses slowly being roused from this magic induced slumber “Lady Ester. please! Wake up! You’re in danger!” Moments after this final shout, Ester was finally able to slowly open her eyes, seeing a woman with bright blue hair with small ponytails on the sides of her head held up by clips shaped like swords, her blue eyes wide open with shock and horror, an ivory colored longbow on her back, wearing tanned leather armor with silver trimmings, with several pieces of metallic armor incorporated into the design to add more protection, primarily around her shoulders, chest, and leggings.

“W-Who…?” Her voice, as weak from inactivity as it was and devoid of any kind of strength to establish dialects, struggled to respond to the sudden arrival of the unknown newcomer, her mind trapped in a severe fog barely able to recognize that she has even been awakened.

“My name is Alyssa, our village has been watching over you for generations and I was appointed to be your attendant if you were to awaken in my generation. B-But we can talk later. I need to get you to safety!” Her eyes darted back to the entrance as more screams were heard in the distance, the sound of fires burning and what seems to be inhuman wailing followed suite.

“W-What’s...happening…?”

“We’re under attack from unknown creatures that might have been summoned by the ancient magic embedded into your tomb designed to alert us of your reawakening, the timing of the attack can only mean that. Unless someone secretly installed an alarm designed to attract whatever those things are, but that question must be put on hold. We need to leave before they get here!”

“B-But...isn’t this your home? Shouldn’t we...protect it?”

This answer had Alyssa turn her head downward, her eyes dewy with sorrow “At this point...no. They’re too strong for us to repel. We’ve known that our actions could’ve led to this outcome one day, that our village would be destroyed. But we idolize the witches and it was an immense honor ensuring you were kept safe Lady Ester. Please, we need to run.” Falling silent after saying this, she walked to a nearby wall, grabbing a sword and kiteshield from a nearby ornate stone chest and presents it to Ester, the sword’s blade being colored rose pink with a gold fuller and a small rabbit pommel embedded onto the edge of the sword, the heater shield being silver and gold with a large white rabbit emblem similar in design to the pommel of the sword.

While Ester used a different set of armaments during her previous tenure with Elcrest and the other Witches, one of the responsibilities placed upon Alyssa was to create a sword and shield dedicated for Ester should she awaken. But where many of her prior attendants crafted standard monochrome gray blade and shields, Alyssa wanted her submission to the ranks of weapons to stand out so she chose to use more exotic metals she ordered from Amatsu with her own funds to craft a suitable sword and shield with a rather feminine design, namely the rabbit themes “Here Lady Ester. In case we are attacked by monsters or beasts. We need to get somewhere far away from here before it’s too late for us.”

Staring at the two items for a brief moment as she took the sword in her right hand and the shield in her left, subconsciously smiling despite the fact that Ester was struggling to attain balance after spending the past thousand years asleep, her body having undergone severe atrophy “This feeling...It’s strangely...nostalgic.” Seeing Ester take up arms made Alyssa flash a sad smile, having wanted the situation to be better for her ‘revival’ after her long sleep, as she quickly turns heel and climbs up the pathway upward. With a moment’s pause, Ester began to follow after her but stopped at the sight of two distinct crystals within the indentations by the door, one a bronze gold shaped like a sun and the other being jet black shaped like a crescent moon, but both had been glowing when Ester had been awakened and her instincts led her to take the two crystals after inspecting the shield’s underbelly to find indentations perfectly mirroring the pair with small curves seemingly meant to keep them still once inserted, finding herself awashed with energy and strength after touching the two crystals, her mind finally cleared of the fog that had been slowing her instincts.

Once she is sure the pair are lodged within her shield, she began a slow walk after Alyssa, soon arriving at the exterior of the tomb, seeing the village at the foot of the cliffside up in flames, the sight making Alyssa drop to her knees as sniffles begin to escape her

“No...NO!!!!” Seeing her home in the final phases of destruction was the final straw as Alyssa outright screamed out of utter despair “For generations, this village has stood as a testament to the nobility Witches represented, fading into obscurity so as to ensure our safety. My entire life was meant to be dedicated to be both your attendant and our strongest fighter. Yet they send me here when anyone else could! But in the end-”

Alyssa was stopped from speaking by Ester as she gently put her hand on her shoulder “Alyssa. From what few thoughts I can recall, I think I can manufacture a possibility as to why your elders sent you away from the village. If my awakening was meant to foretell tragedy for the village, it would be ideal to send their best away where it’s safe.”

This reassurance fell on deaf ears, but one thing Ester had indirectly said caught Alyssa’s attention, wiping the trail of tears coming from her eyes, trying to focus on Ester’s remark “Wait, what do you mean by ‘What few thoughts you can recall’? Do you not know the other Witches? Or anything before your slumber?”

“Other...Witches? No. I can’t recall anything from before I was in that slumber.”

“That’s strange. According to the legend passed down in our village from the other witches, you should’ve been able to remember your time among them. C-Come on...we need to get out of here. We can’t let everyone’s sacrifice be in vain.”

“But where do we go? If the village is gone, then-”

“I’m unaccustomed to much of the outside world, but we do trade with a nearby city: Port Noir on occasion. But one name was mentioned in the legend passed down in the village from the Witches: Lambert. The capital of the Regnant kingdom. This region is technically not part of their jurisdiction. I suppose it’s as a good a place as any to begin.”

“Lambert.” Ester paused as she closed her eyes for a moment, the word being strangely familiar to her but couldn’t understand why “How long would it take to reach it?”

Alyssa weakly hums as she turns to face the environs around them “Our village was remote. It will take about two weeks through the mountains but without the necessary supplies, we won’t make it to Lambert proper. Thankfully Port Noir is a few days from the other side of the mountain. We will go there first. We need to get out of here. Please, follow me Lady Ester.”

As Alyssa ran eastward toward the nearby forest, Ester stood paralyzed as she watched the village’s destruction be finalized, before regaining her mental fortitude and following after Alyssa, her thoughts frozen on the village and circumstances Alyssa had brought up in dialogues with her ‘ _Who are these other Witches that Alyssa mentioned? Wait, does that imply that I’m a Witch too? But...why was I in a tomb? How long have I been asleep? Generations was mentioned so-._ ’ Despite the lack of memory she has recollection of, her senses were telling her that last question was more dangerous than it would seem and thus should be relegated to a more opportune moment when panic is overwhelming them both right now ‘ _And why can I not remember anything from before I was in that place? Something tells me that Alyssa’s not going to know all that much about this so I’ll keep quiet unless she brings it up herself._ ’

* * *

 

Upon entering the forest proper, slowing their sprint as they stopped by a large tree to catch their breath, Ester noticing Alyssa crying yet again “Alyssa, this is really hurting you isn’t it?”

“Yeah. The people I’ve known all my life are all dead. There’s nothing left for me to go back to. My only option is to go forward and assist you to the best of my ability Lady Ester.”

“Um...I don’t. I don’t understand.”

“What’s the matter Lady Ester?”

“Why are you so willing to serve me? I-I’m responsible for you losing your home. Shouldn’t you be furious at me? Your people spent generations watching over me but the day I awaken, they are attacked and killed.”

Confronted like this, Alyssa simply blinked, staring into Ester’s eyes for a mere moment and weakly whimpered when she bent down into a fetal position “Honestly. I’m just...conflicted Lady Ester. I need; stability, I suppose you could say. And doing my part of being your attendant will help that. It’s the only thing really going for me since I was groomed for this position ever since I was small. I started training with this bow since I was eight. Almost every moment of the last thirteen years of life was spent in your service, even though there was no guarantee you were ever going to awakened in my lifetime. Crafting your sword and shield. Tempering myself to battle. I started all this when I became your attendant when I was six.”

Hearing this made Ester frown even more as her mind ponders the subject on hand “That-That’s. Alyssa, this makes me think you should outright despise me. My being in that slumber ruined your life. You could’ve been free to make your own decisions and life if it weren’t for me. When-When we reach that port, I think it’d be better to part ways. I can’t stand life being predetermined to that extent. You need the right to live the life you want to live.”

The moment Ester had finished speaking, Alyssa was left utterly agape with shock “Lady Ester, I understand why you are saying this, but please understand that it’s not what you think. I never said I hated the life I have lived. Furthermore, I could’ve refused and lived the life you say you want me to have, but this _IS_ the life I chose for myself. I was told what responsibilities I would have if I were to become your attendant and I was willing to do it. Now, more than ever, it’s important we stick together. I’m from a village that no longer exists and you’ve spent generations asleep. We’re both wanderers now and we should be working together.”

“Generations. Erm, if you know Alyssa, how long was I sleeping in that tomb?”

“I-I don’t know exactly. Our stories were beginning to fade in detail. We’ve actually forgotten how long you have been in there, only that you were there. I’m sorry that I can’t answer your question.”

“I see.” Ester frowned at this particular revelation “So what do you people _actually_ know of me?”

“Mmm...not much. Our records were stories told to us by the ancient witches. And even then, we began losing details about them over the ages. Erm, I think they were called-” Alyssa paused as she crossed her arms and put a finger on her chin, her forehead scrunching to try forcing the memory to her attention “I may end up botching the pronunciation, but I think they were called Francesca, wait no. That doesn’t sound right. Fran-Fran-Oh! Francisca. Mill...oh boy, this one was always the hardest for me to say. We used two syllables for it to help us remember her name. Oh yeah. Millicent. The other three thankfully had simpler names: Ukuna, Kaede, and Hilda. Anyway, like I said, our records were beginning to lose details, so I don’t know as much as I would’ve liked Lady Ester. I’m sorry.”

“That’s fine.” Despite her words, Ester was not exactly pleased with the answer given to her as she looked up at the sky, growing darker by the minute “We need shelter for the night.”

“Don’t worry. There’s a cabin nearby. We actually have four cabins scattered throughout the path to the other side of the mountain range here, all dedicated to the plan of when you would eventually be reawakened or if we just travel. Each cabin has a small stockpile of food we can eat from. Follow me.”

‘ _But didn’t she say-oh wait. She said supplies in general, not just food._ ’

The course of action decided, the pair walk toward the rustic cabin, Alyssa pushing open the door to find this small building very simple in design though what had set it apart was the pantry in an adjacent room that Alyssa had opened the door to, soon returning with two small packets of wrapped bread in her hands as she walked toward a small fireplace in the corner with rather simplistic appliances

“I’m not much of a chef, but warming these preserved rations should be simple enough. Let’s eat a little before we go to sleep. I haven’t been able to eat since this morning and you haven’t eaten anything since before your slumber.”

* * *

 

Silently eating the food once it had finished being cooked, Alyssa and Ester had quickly decided to settle down into slumber, though the former was kept awake by inner anxiety, waiting for the latter to fall asleep before sneaking into a hidden room underneath the pantry via a hidden hatch and pulls out a small, yet thick, book that she had hidden away in a pocket inside of her armor, setting it aside as emotions rapidly began to overflow and Alyssa practically howled in despair now that she has a chance to let out her sadness. In the span of a single day, Alyssa has lost everything. Her family. Her friends. Her home. Everything she held dear. All she has to her name now are the few things she has on her person and her station as Ester’s attendant. Once she finished crying, wiping her eyes dry, she picks the book back up and cradles it in her hands

‘ _I hate that I’m lying to Lady Ester like this. I lied about what I know about her. I gave her the impression we’re clueless aside from a few details. When in reality-_ ’ Alyssa paused as she gently opened the book with her gloved hands, staring at the fresh writing within as she flipped page after page, her own handwriting representing her recreating Ester’s history with pinpoint accuracy ‘ _For the last thousand years, we have been carefully recreating Lady Ester’s history throughout each generation, so as to ensure her attendant would know who she was in life. A tortured soul who was saved from potential death from stupid paranoid farmers who would treat her as a scapegoat for their own damnable misfortunes by the Conductor: Elcrest and the five witches: Francesca the Water Witch, Millicent the Wind Witch, Kaede the Fire Witch, Ukuna the Earth Witch, and Hilda the Time Witch. Those stupid idiots were determined to treat her as a monster just because she became a Witch when she was bonded to her Qualia. Her friends and family-_ ’ Alyssa once again paused as she clicked her teeth in utter disdain for that treatment, before her disgruntled expression shifted into that of a gentle smile ‘ _But we’re different. Even though we’ve never known her, we’ve always given Lady Ester due reverence. According to one of the later entries, she became corrupted when she was subjected to humanity’s demons trying to save Elcrest. I-I wish I knew what that meant. But I refuse to treat Lady Ester as a demon without merit. I wish I could share this history with Lady Ester, but she was just awakened from a thousand year slumber meant to help her through this ‘darkness’. She needs time to acclimate to this new world she now lives in. That and the witches left a final note warning us against this. If we reveal Lady Ester’s own hidden darkness before she is tuned and allow her to overcome her feelings...well, they didn’t share with us what could happen since not even they knew the facts, but I’m not taking any chances._ ’ As something suddenly came to mind, Alyssa flipped back to when the documents talked about Elcrest, Xeno, and the Witches ‘ _I’ve had this thought many times, but I wish there was a picture or at least some sort of description of what these people looked like. I mean...I kinda get why Lady Ester was hesitant to talk about her fellow witches, Elcrest, or Xeno if what’s written here is true-._ ’ Alyssa was forced to stop as she began to feel tears running down her cheeks as her thoughts subconsciously went back to her lost village, family, and neighbors, swiftly closing the book and shoving it back within her armor, not wanting to ruin the book with her crying.

After ten minutes, Alyssa wiped her face, took some deep breaths to calm herself down and climbed back up, truly falling asleep this time around, though she took note of Ester’s own peaceful expression beforehand, her thoughts wandering as she glanced at her pastel purple hair going down to her shoulders and while they are closed now, her blue eyes were full of innocence yet the choice of apparel made a show of representing cold hostility, desiring to be left alone.

‘ _Everything I’ve read of Lady Ester’s records made her seem utterly abrasive and unwilling to work with anyone. She had a reputation of working solo. It took the efforts of Elcrest, Xeno, and Kaede to get her to work with them. If the story’s true, Lady Ester still has not been tuned. I wish I knew what ‘tuning’ meant, honestly, if anyone can do it, I’d try it if it means helping her. Now that I remember, there’s a wrinkle in the records that pisses me off. An entry half-way through her story says that anything within could be exaggeration borne from her own anger or a flat out lie to make herself seem better, so I cannot tell what is truth and what is misinformation on the surface, run parallels between early entries and later entries. Even the idea of Elcrest being the one who saved Ester could be a lie. I’d have to read between the lines to ascertain this but I’m certain that the suffering that has been recorded within the diary is true, it’s too consistent. But I don’t completely understand the difference here. What I’ve printed down contrasts what I’ve seen of her. Sure it was brief, but Lady Ester actually seemed to care about my well-being despite only just meeting me when this says she despises humanity. Hmm, I wonder. Yes, it might be her amnesia, but without the trauma of her past burdening her actions, I might be seeing her true personality at work here. If I’m right, that can mean that despite her rough disposition back then, she did want to be friendly with the others back then, but her distrust towards people made her isolate herself. But not this time. I’m going to be there to ensure Lady Ester is never alone or have to shoulder her burdens by her lonesome. I may have lost everything, but I will be the rock that she hangs onto if the need demands it. If she does one day regain her memory, I want her to know that not all people are like those who hurt her. Good night Lady Ester.’_ ’ Despite the smile that Alyssa had on her face, it was betrayed by a river of tears, struggling to fight the urge to sniffle ‘ _I can’t believe I lost everything. Mom...Dad...everyone. Please forgive me for being a coward who abandoned her home. I-I wanted to stay and fight those strange enemies besieging our home but you forbade me. Told me to run to you Lady Ester. And to think...this might not have happened if my older brother had not abandoned his duty as your attendant. Not only did he steal the weapons he made for you and his copy of your records making it so I had to recreate this book from HIS predecessor’s, he damaged the records. Even when I’ve recreated the log with what was left, I’ve been told it’s incomplete. I don’t know why he did what he did but he betrayed us all. Big brother…even to this very day I ask myself. Why did you do this?! I admired you. You were my freaking idol and hero!! You never hesitated to regale how exhilarated you were that you got to be Lady Ester’s attendant. So why would you abandon your duty out of the blue?!?! And sabotage everything we stand for. I...I’m so...tired._ ’ What remained of Alyssa’s stamina finally gave out as she lost consciousness and let sleep consume her, having pushed herself so much trying to escape the creatures that had destroyed her home and slain her kin, but one final sight caught her attention after seeing the underside of Ester’s shield ‘ _That’s the…_ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, even though I had learned about how the region of Larphen being in the game's canon lore thanks to the conveyance from one of the developers of Last Song: sassyku, I still have a desire to incorporate the lore from that game into my own fanfic here with a twist here and there of my own with what I am creating here in Ricercar Redux. The most significant change I am making is how there will be eight (technically nine) Qualias active in the world compared to the five shown in the game proper. Alongside the Water, Wind, Fire, Earth, and Time Qualias used by Lisette, Popo, Sakuya, Mordimort, and Hilda, the three new qualias I present: Lightning, Radiant (Yeah uh...I'm going to change the name from Light to Radiant since I want this Qualia to stand out a little bit compared to Ester's Lightning/Thunder Qualia. (The Qualia belonging was renamed by Elcrest after deeming Ester 'safe' to work with) Gaudy, I will admit, but Light and Lightning together kinda bugs me.) and Void will be active and bonded by the end of Ricercar Redux. During the epilogue, I do plan on including the bulk of Last Song's content which will have Lighting, Radiant, and Void Witches being active. Their identities will be kept unknown until I actually post it.


	3. Migration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys, I have a bit of a fun quiz of sorts for anyone reading this story: Among the chapters I have posted for this story, how much dialogue/exposition has Ester been involved in with the story so far?
> 
> And more importantly, I’ve been spending the last couple of months solidifying this story’s intricacies and mysteries and trust me when I say that the Lightning Witch is still going to be an amnesiac but the origins are far more involved and tragic in a sense. In fact, I’ve already given hints as to what happened to this young girl in chapter 1. Also, I may not have done the best job of conveying it, but she’s meant to be seen as ‘disconnected’. Her body is something that can be considered easily fixable but she is being driven solely on instincts, her mind isn’t fully ‘online’. She’s basically a drone following pre-ordained directions. But don’t worry, she’s not going to stay that way for long. Once she completes her first tuning with Alto in either the next chapter or the one after, depending on how involved I take their interactions with Popo and their recruitment into the 9th Regiment, she’s going to regain some semblance of her humanity, and honestly I’m kind of excited to reinvent content I was planning on releasing before scrapping the original Ricercar because of its slapdash nature, namely Ester’s original backstory of her being a mercenary hired by Ewan, except Alyssa will also be in the same position as well.

After getting some quality sleep, Alyssa was roused by her slumber when she heard the sound of footsteps pacing around the room, slowly opening her weary eyes and rubbing them to see Ester pacing about the room with her sword and shield drawn

“Mmm...is something the matter Lady Ester?” Still suffering from her fatigue, her voice weak from slumber, Alyssa glanced at the sight in front of her, trying to understand why Ester has her weapons drawn.

“I’ve been hearing something outside. I don’t know what it is.”

The mention of an unknown noise led Alyssa to jump up from where she had been lying down, training her hearing to the outside with the suspicion that they are about to be attacked by the creatures that destroyed her home but stopped after hearing the sounds of grasshoppers stridulating

“Lady Ester, those are just grasshoppers. They’re harmless.”

“Are you certain?”

“Yes. Just put your sword down. Please.”

Studying Alyssa’s expression for a brief moment, Ester silently placed her sword in its sheath and placed both it and the shield on the floor as she turned to face Alyssa proper “Sorry for waking you up.”

“Don’t worry about it Lady Ester. It’s about time we get going anyway. I’ll go warm up something and then we can get moving to the next safehouse.”

* * *

Stretching her body to wake herself up proper, Alyssa walked over toward the pantry and then the fireplace to warm up the packaged food, giving it her unparalleled focus so-as to not let it burn. With nothing else to do in the current moment, Ester sat herself at the small table in the middle of the room and looked toward Alyssa

“Do you mind if I ask one, no, two questions?”

“I don’t mind in the slightest Lady Ester. Speak your mind.”

“I’m curious about why you made me a sword and shield. Wouldn’t just a sword work better?”

“We honor the customs and traditions from your era. According to the stories, you fought with a razor sharp obsidian blade and a shield made of material stronger than anything in existence. They were your signature weapons. Unfortunately, they were reported as lost before your slumber one thousand years ago. To honor you, we attendants create similar armaments out of what materials we can muster in the hope we could recreate those legendary weapons for your own use.”

“I see.” Lowering her head somewhat to let her mind process the answer Alyssa had provided, something failed to register “Sorry, but something about that answer confuses me. What happened to all the previous weapons?”

“We typically either enshrined them or sold them to other cities, depending on the attendant in question. Many of us did the latter and gave the money to our village but some of us did the former since we value the weapons we made you, though for me, it’s because no one would want to buy a girly sword and shield like the ones you have there. That, and how I’m still very young so I haven’t gotten to that point yet.”

“Okay. Now I want to ask, is that bow you have your signature weapon?”

“You could say that. While I did train with it for many years, I actually took up swordplay as well with a specific emphasis on being able to switch on the fly though the process did take a decade to learn...with a lot of broken bones in the process. More than you can imagine. Broken multiple times over the years-” Alyssa’s voice started strong but gradually devolved into muttering as she instinctively repeats the injuries she suffered over the years as if breaking down into a madness mantra.

“You’re scaring me Alyssa.”

“S-Sorry. But is there a reason why you asked me this question?”

Ester paused as she recalled just how difficult it was to hold her sword and shield. While her body had been cleansed and brought more up to speed, her mind felt clouded and unresponsive to handle the pressure of having her weapons drawn “I’d like you to help me train. My mind is struggling to adjust and it feels like having my weapons will make me collapse. We might need to fight in the future and I’m useless as I am.”

After making this request, there was an uncomfortable silence that lasted longer than Ester would’ve liked as Alyssa didn’t give any sort of response until she returned with the warmed up food, her expression betraying the confidence of fealty that Alyssa had implied of her upbringing as her attendant, a path she said she willingly chose.

“If that’s what you wish Lady Ester, I’ll do what I can.”

Eating their food in silence, Alyssa picked herself up as she approached a small chest at the edge of the room and opened it, taking out a scroll and passed it over to Ester

“Here. This is a map of the mountain pass and the safe houses along the path. Go on ahead without me. I need to make some preparations if we’re going on a long journey.”

“Are you certain? Wait. Is the path safe?”

“Just stick to the paths and you’ll be fine Lady Ester. All of the nearby animals stick to the surrounding forest. They’re fearful of humans so they’ll leave you be if you do.”

“Mmm...okay then.”

* * *

After receiving a few packets of packaged food, Ester studied the map and began walking in the direction of the next hut, keeping to the path like Alyssa had recommended to avoid having to strain her body with combat, stopping a few hours into her trek to eat some of the food that she has on her person when she felt a sharp pain in her head, gripping her forehead as she saw the ring on her finger faintly glow which made her awareness shift from the multicolored forest to what seemed to be a watercolor type painting but painted only with oily shadows and tinted a dull orange which suggested that Ester is being shown an old memory, though the ambivalent darkness soon faded with the skies being conveyed with constellations and the floor being replaced with black and white tiled platforms, with violet, gold, and silver lights adjacent to the edges.

Feeling confusion as to what is happening, Ester soon saw two pitch black silhouettes in the distance facing each down, one being equipped with a sword and the other being unarmed. Despite the distance, Ester saw that the height of the silhouette with the sword was roughly the same height as herself at 5’5, and the other being about 4’7 and heard their conversations after slowly approaching the pair

[ **You will not have her abomination!** ]

[ **If you recall, the Qualia that she possesses is of my own creation. Each witch is mine to do with as I see fit. Even you.** ]

[ **In your** **_twisted, psychotic_ ** **dreams! The Thunder Witch is** **_MINE_ ** **to command. Once again, you** **_will not have her_ ** **! And you will never control** **_ME_** **!** ]

[ **Tehehe, it’s cute that you think you have any semblance of control.** ]

[ **I have more than enough for what I want the Thunder Witch to do. Her mission is the same as mine: Destroy or seal away every Qualia in existence. Water, Wind, Fire, Earth, Time, Radiant, Void, and then Thunder in turn.** ]

[ **You really think you can actually destroy Qualias despite failing the one time you tried? Your naivete is adorable.** ]

[ **Well this naive little princess spent her time wisely, learning more about these curses you created. The curse and the power of song. My servants are under my control, not yours. With this blade, I will cut down the source and then ensnare the remaining Qualias!!** ] Her mind decided, the taller silhouette charged into battle but the smaller stopped the blade with her hand and with surprising ease, redirected control and sent it flying into the abyss below, forcing the attacker to leap backward with a vicious snarl follow suite [ **Damn you!** ]

[ **Don’t you think you’ve had enough of these one-sided conflicts? Just surrender the Thunder, Radiant, and Void Qualias already. I’ll even leave you be and let you do whatever you want.** ]

[ **N-Never! As long as I draw breath, the Thunder Qualia will never be under your control! I will fight you as many times as needed to ensure that it stays that way!** ]

* * *

As soon as this individual said this, the images in front of Ester began to whirl and fade, rapidly returning to the environs of the forest, turning her head as she looks at the sights around her

“What was that?” Feeling completely confused at what she had been witness to, Ester stared at the ring on her left hand which carried a faint glow before instinctively shifting her eyes to the underbelly of her shield to find the two crystals she had placed within also glowing “Why did my instincts tell me to grab these...whatever they are?” Ester paused as she reflected on what she had just been witness to and let herself ponder her thoughts “Are these the...Qualias those two people mentioned? Thunder, Radiant and Void? W-Wait...Q-Qualia...what is a Qualia? It sounds...familiar. Alyssa said I’ve been asleep for generations so is it something that I’ve heard before my slumber? But...why can I not...remember anything?”

Ester paused as she placed a hand on her chest and closed her eyes for a moment before hearing an inhuman howl in the distance, making her spring to action, drawing her sword and shield, as heavy as they felt to her, and focused her senses on determining its direction, dashing back northwest as she quickly sees Alyssa alone in a clearing with her bow drawn, panting heavily as if she had just been in battle

“L-Lady...Ester. I’m-I’m relieved you’re okay. One of the huge creatures that-destroyed my home was here. It and four other small ones. About an hour after you left-they attacked the safehouse. I have no idea how many of the things were there-but I avenged my people at least a little bit. Each one of them is dead.”

“That’s astounding Alyssa. You’re remarkably strong if you were able to fight five enemies by yourself.”

“You can say my training helped. The elders made sure I had the same level of combat prowess as my predecessor. I was expected to be strong. Stronger than my predecessor ever was. Come on, we need to get moving to the next safehouse, in case any of those creatures are close by.” Beckoning Ester to follow, they began their trek back eastward with Alyssa staying in front of Ester, clearly unaware of the thoughts brewing within Alyssa’s mind ‘ _Yeah right, they did it to punish me for my brother’s betrayal. The grueling training. Controlling every aspect of my life. I never wanted this life for myself and it sickens me that I have to pretend that I’m happy to be this woman’s attendant. I wanted to live a normal life as a normal girl but no, I was forced to serve a woman who, until yesterday, was going to be in that coma my entire life! I’d give anything if I could pawn her off on someone or straight out abandon her and try to gain any sort of semblance of freedom from the life I was forced to live, but no...she’s a Witch at the end of the day. She’s too important to sacrifice and I’m just a worthless human being. I’m the one who can be tossed away without any consequence. The long lost Thunder Witch at that. Bearer of not only the Thunder Qualia, but Radiant and Void. I was able to sneak glances at her shield, she took them with her. It makes me think that the only way I’d ever be able to attain freedom from this cursed fate is if I resonate with those Qualias._ ’

“Hey-Alyssa. Do you mind if I ask a question?”

“Not at all Lady Ester. I am your attendant after all, ask any question you want and I’ll try to answer.”

“Does the word Qualia ring any bells?”

“Yes actually. The ring on your index finger on your left hand is the Thunder Qualia, it’s what allowed you to become the Thunder Witch before your slumber. I actually noticed the others that had been entombed alongside you: the Radiant and Void Qualias.”

“Why were they there Alyssa?”

“Erm...I-I don’t exactly know. What little was reported hinted that those two Qualias were unable to bond with anyone after the previous Radiant and Void Witches were slain. The Time and Earth Witches helped convert their shrine into your resting place.”

“They lived in your village?”

“Yeah. The village of Zuelia adored Witches. Idolized them even. Of course, their histories are better preserved because of how they were native to the village compared to you being foreign Lady Ester.” Alyssa stopped in her tracks and immediately turned toward Ester “I’m sorry, that was insensitive of me.”

“It’s fine.”

‘ _Huh. I didn’t notice this before but Lady Ester seems...off. Her voice is rather monotone. It’s as if she’s not really conscious or something. I can’t really explain it. Is this maybe related to what tuning is? If it is, I need to find the Conductor if there even is one around. Worst case, maybe I’d have to become one? Wait, why do I care so much?! I want her gone!_ ’ “If-If you say so Lady Ester. Let’s not falter. There could be more of those abominations close by.”

* * *

During the trek, misfortune preyed upon them on a severe level as over half of the safehouses were found destroyed through intense flame which proves that the pair are being followed by an unknown party with the objective of preventing their journey since their supplies are being deliberately denied with the destruction of each safehouse, but neither understand why this unknown enemy is going about this in such a roundabout way instead of going after them directly aside from the one attack during the second day. After some deliberation and thought perusing, both Ester and Alyssa agreed on the fact that her awakening two weeks ago had to have been deliberate because of the attack that destroyed Zuelia. The fact it had been happening when the seal that normally blocks access to the inner chamber had been dissipated is suspect but they cannot ascertain whether it was automatically done in response to the attack or whether someone was tipped off to the attack ahead of time and undid the seal to ensure Ester could escape.

Be that as it may, despite the loss of many of their resources that would’ve sustained them in the mountain treks, they finally reached the other end of the mountain range and by extension: the kingdom of Regnant’s territory, albeit pushing their supplies to the limit and relying on foraging for food as much as possible.

“Here we are Lady Ester. The Kingdom of Regnant. It’s been years since I’ve been here, to get ore from Amatsu to forge the weapons you have now.”

“I’m glad the difficult part is over. Mountainous terrain was horrible.”

“It was only bad because someone destroyed so many of our shelters and supplies. Now that we’re in the fields, traversing the region will be much easier on us all.”

“So what’s our destination?”

“Mmm...I want to say Port Noir, but it’s a couple of days away by carriage. We don’t have enough food to last us that long. We need to find a village close by so we can replenish our stocks and more importantly, get us some new clothing. I think it’d be a good idea to hide the fact you’re a Witch Lady Ester. Someone was insistent on deterring our progress. It’s possible they were even trying to kill us discreetly. Make it impossible for us to cross through that mountain pass.”

“I’ll follow your judgement Alyssa. I’ve been asleep for a thousand years after all.”

‘ _As much as I say it, I don’t have all that much money. I only have four hundred G with me. If I buy two outfits or more likely armor since we may need to do a lot of fighting, it’ll probably only leave me with one hundred left. And then there’s the fee for the carriage. That’ll use up the rest of my money. I guess I got no other option. I need to find work somewhere._ ’ “Thanks Lady Ester. Let’s get moving.”

* * *

With a plan established, the pair spent the next three hours walking to the nameless village, it being just large enough to have amenities like an inn and tailor, Ester and Alyssa taking the opportunity to purchase new clothing which ended up being rather simplistic desert robes native to the western region of Regnant that once played host to the city of Kashimastan, colored tanned white supplemented with dark veils that hid their faces rather strongly, in addition to how this was all Alyssa was able to afford with the little G she had and to her horror, it had cost her three hundred and fifty G, which was the intent since they have an unknown party after them that is hiding in the shadows. They must hide their identities for a time. With their physical appearances covered for the time being, Alyssa mused that it would be a good idea to add an extra layer, bringing Ester to the edge of town

“Do you remember what I was talking about before Lady Ester?” Ester simply nodded in acknowledgement to Alyssa’s question of what had been said when they finally reached Regnant “I want to take things a little further with our disguises. It might seem excessive but I think we should change our public names for a while. Whoever assailed the safehouses in the mountains might know our names, so if we change our names, we might throw off this individual or group.”

“O...kay, but will we call ourselves?”

“Mmm...do you mind being called Emberlynn?”

“Emberlynn?”

“Yeah, I actually spent quite some time in Kashmistan before I went to Amatsu years ago. Apparently, Emberlynn is a common girl’s name in the city. Or...was anyway.”

“Was?”

“The city was destroyed three years ago. I don’t know the details unfortunately. I only learned of its destruction because I passed by Lambert on my way back home with your sword and shield after spending two years in Amatsu learning the art of blacksmithing.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You were asleep, you had no sort of influence over the event. Anyway, I’m going to change my name too. For the time being, call me Althea.”

“Okay. Althea.”

“Anyway, Emberlynn, in regards to your question earlier, I’ll do it. I’ll help train you. There’s still time before nightfall so let’s start now.”

Their minds made up, the pair leave the village limits as Alyssa draws her sword, the setting sun shimmering on the metal and urges Ester to do the same in turn, who slowly pulls out her sword and shield, holding the shield in her left hand and the sword in her right, but as soon as Ester tightened her stance, she paused as she stared at the shield, making Alyssa tilt her head in confusion

“Something wrong Emberlynn?”

“Something about this shield’s weight seems...wrong.”

“It’s because it’s a heater shield. The old stories said you used a tower shield but I have no clue how to forge that kind of armor. I’ve tried four different times to make a tower shield but it was impossible for me to get it done. I had to compromise with a smaller shield. Besides, isn’t the lighter weight easier for you?”

Ester paused as she moved the shield about, judging its weight in accordance to what is coming across as natural to her instincts, pushing her shield forward when she saw Alyssa charging towards her, intercepting and redirecting the strike by moving it further left as the sword scraped against the surface of the shield and swiftly moving her sword towards Alyssa, stopping well before the sword reached her body, the display making Alyssa wide-eyed in surprise.

“Y-You said you needed training! How did you beat me that quickly?!?!”

“Don’t I? My reaction felt slow. My body is telling me that the shield was heavy and I couldn’t move it as quickly as I could’ve.” Alyssa was left agape at how nonchalant Ester was as-to how weak she considered herself when she rivaled her own strength.

“I’ll admit I was using maybe half of my strength, but that’s still at the strength of the average soldier. I don’t think you need training specifically, you probably need conventional exercise to get your body back into shape from your long slumber. It’s clear that you don’t need combat training at this point. If you want, I can try thinking of something to get your body back into shape.”

After realizing Ester’s strength, Alyssa wondered just how powerful this girl was. Even when her body is crippled by a thousand years slumber, she was able to match her strength that had been honed by years of training, it even made her ponder if Ester could match her at full strength, and hidden feelings of rage began brewing in her heart about how a Witch who had been asleep for a thousand years can beat a fighter who spent over a decade training. Hidden rage and even thoughts of uselessness. If Ester was able to fight that effectively, there’d be no need for Alyssa to fight at all, thereby rendering a significant amount of her life as irrelevant.

‘ _The more I learn about this woman, the more I despise her! She is completely uprooting the things my life was spent preparing for!_ ’ Alyssa paused for a moment as she breathed a silent sigh ‘ _But what should I expect? I’m just a normal girl, Ester is a Witch, they’re meant to be superior to us. I could’ve trained for decades and she’d still surpass me without even trying._ ’ “I think we should call it here for the time being. It’s late and I need to think of how to proceed with your training. Let’s head to the inn and rest, we have to wait a couple of days until the town’s merchant comes back to deliver their orders before returning to either Port Noir, Lambert, or Amatsu. We can pay for transportation or offer to help in the delivery.”

* * *

Meanwhile, to the west of Regnant’s capital of Lambert, within the castle situated at the heart of the capital of what used to be the country of Larphen: Nordea, which is now a part of the Regnant Kingdom after a merger four hundred years prior, fifty fully armored knights headed by a young woman with curly red hair whom are all wearing light platemail with elements of chainmail underneath the heavier metal bearing Larphen’s native emblem, the group being a platoon of Regnant’s 5th regiment that is specifically composed of natives from the Larphen region, solemnly drop to their knees and bow in front of Larphen’s queen: Eupraxia Nordea Larphen, her hair and eyes tinted a gentle violet, wearing her signature priestess robes, being the leader of the 7th regiment which is almost completely a medical division for both the knights and Regnant’s citizens as they tend to spread themselves across the realm, Larphen having been allowed to maintain some semblance of their monarchy despite being a part of Regnant, the agreements having been signed in exchange for a peaceful and seamless transition from an independent kingdom to a vassal state

“You summoned us your majesty?”

“I have little sister. I have received word from Queen Anastasia that the Witch of Destruction has attacked the village of Mithra to the northeast of our territory.”

“Mithra? But that’s only a hop and jump from our own border villages!”

“Do not speak out of turn when in her majesty’s presence soldier! But...I share his worries. Are we to be sent to assist in evacuating nearby villages?”

“No, the 2nd regiment has been dispatched to handle that responsibility. According to Klaus’ missive, only two people survived the crystallization of Mithra and they are being brought to Lambert as we speak. Dispatch your platoon to assist in the recovery and transportation of the victims.”

The woman turned towards one of her soldiers with a stern expression “Get the troops ready for immediate deployment.” Upon hearing the order from their commander, the soldiers swiftly turned heel and dashed out of the room, leaving Eupraxia and the commander alone in the throne room “If there is nothing else your majesty, I should join the troops and get ready to move.”

“Actually there is something else. I have a different assignment for you Runey. I want you to go to Lambert and meet with Queen Anastasia. I feel like it is time for our two powers to unite against the Harbingers. Regnant is suffering and I want Larphen to be able to assist in whatever way we can.”

“Your majesty, my name is Runesica Nordea Larphen, not ‘Runey’. I would appreciate you knowing this and not indulging in these foolish notions. We are not children anymore.”

“You’ve grown so cold. You were so friendly and outgoing but ever since you became a soldier, it’s as if you gave up your humanity.”

“Your majesty, as a member of the nobility, I need to exude an aura of seriousness so the troops will take my command seriously.”

“Oh, so then I should be solemn too since I am the queen of our territory Runesica?”

“N-No, of course not your majesty! You are the life and soul of Larphen. We would all lose hope if your boundless enthusiasm is lost to us!”

“If the queen, the greatest power in the realm, is to embrace having an enthusiastic mindset, what is your excuse?”

“...You played me.”

“Like a fiddle dear sister.”

Runesica simply sighed in irritation at Eupraxia’s rather flippant attempt, successful as it was, at teasing her “I’ll...I’ll think about it. But don’t expect me to change my ways. The customs of the 5th regiment are far different from the 7th. Besides-” Runesica paused as she gently scratched her cheek, a subtle blush appearing on her face “I only feel comfortable being this open around family, or rather, only you in particular your maj-Raxi. You adopted me into your family branch when I was just a babe after my mother passed away from childbirth and father died in a monster attack in the field.”

“You are my dear sister, of course I want to ensure you live a long, happy life. Furthermore, your family line is important to Larphen’s legacy. Your family’s bloodline played a very critical role in ensuring Larphen was able to maintain our monarchy when we merged with Regnant.”

“Right. That influential marriage five hundred years ago- I need to get moving if I’m to meet with Queen Anastasia. The road to Lambert is treacherous and I would like to stay in proximity to my troops until the danger is past. This means we’ll have to delay our rendezvous since we’ll have to move slowly.”

“Ah yes, I remember. It’s common to see large groups of poison wolves migrating south towards Port Noir’s fields this time of year.”

“Exactly. I would like to avoid having the fangs of a horde crashing down onto us. Before I leave, I’m going to ensure your own safety. Reassemble your royal guard.”

“That’s not necessary Runesica. The castle guard are more than enough, they all swore a solemn oath to defend my life when they enlisted. Do not feel obligated to keep yourself in my presence. Go rejoin your soldiers.”

“If-If you insist sister.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I’ve been rather slow to update any and all of my stories here on this site, but I’ve been taking a different approach compared to when I was working on my fanfiction account. Back then, I’ve handled things almost completely impromptu chapter by chapter with a general premise as a foundation, but I’m designing all of my stories far more intricately this time around and I’m planning out these stories way ahead of what I produce, for instance, here in Ricercar Redux, I've been writing a roadmap up to the Kashmistan arc. I’m leaving very little to improv from now on since I want my stories to have as much high quality content within as I possible can muster. As for where Zuelia is, I’m setting it outside of the world map west of Port Noir past where the forest and mountain is.
> 
> In addition to this approach, I’ve actually been spending the last one to two years writing an original story and I’m feeling comfortable sharing a chapter sometime soon. As you can imagine, that’s been what’s eating a lot of my time aside from my job during the holiday season.
> 
> But, I can proudly say that I have a list of songs finalized in its entirety for the bearer of the Lightning Qualia and each one was carefully selected to tell a story that will unfold across Ricercar. The songs I have chosen go in this order: Here sung by Rachellular on Re:TYE, Goddess sung by Nonon on Cepheid, Chronos sung by Un3h on Cepheid, Bad Apple sung by Lizz Robinett, two versions of Kimi no Namae from The Rising of the Shield Hero sung respectively by Mewsic and Spiral of Re:TYE, and finally PROMiSED ViSION from Omega Quintet with lyrics from Luisilly6. If anyone is interested in finding out the mystery I have concocted, listen to the songs in the order I have listed and an image might begin to emerge. However, with the lyrics alone, one of these songs is not like the others and relies more on the context of the moment more than anything else.
> 
> In-universe, the first three songs will be similar to instrumentals during the first three tunings, Bad Apple and Kimi no Namae are important for the final tuning, and PROMiSED ViSION is Ester’s Goddess form song like Levia, Volt Shower, Fiery Night, Dark Labyrinth, and Blazing Light. Now, there is something I’ve been pondering and I’d like you guys’ feedback about this. Would you want me to include songs for the Radiant and Void Witches in the story? It’s something I’m searching for on the side for character building in my documents and I found one promising for the Radiant Witch: Atashi ga Tonari ni Uchi Ni from Shield Hero or Lifelight from Super Smash Bros Ultimate mixed as a duet for both the Radiant and Void witches since I am picturing the pair as mirror images of one another like Orana and Apollania were, though I’m keeping an open mind in case I find something better.


End file.
